Plaything
by genkakusalvo
Summary: Gon faces Pitou, who heals Komugi under orders from the King. Pitou has promised to heal Kite, but will he? My take on the Chimera Ant arc. It will deviate from canon. Rated T for now. Rating may change later due to violence.
1. Chapter 1

Plaything, a _Hunter x Hunter_ fanfiction

All Credit and Ownership Go to Yoshihiro Togashi-sensei

Chapter 1: Trust

Lookout duty was desperately boring for a cat. On the tallest tower of the palace, carved with lush designs, made of gold and embedded with precious stones, Neferpitou crouched, tail flicking back and forth. He widened his eyes until they watered, then kept them open a little longer, and finally blinked quickly. The ears on his head twitched, detecting sounds: distant clanging, the pacing of soldiers in the balconies below, a few lowly Chimera Ant drones and section leaders who were probably scheming something about which Poitou could hardly care less. Further away, there were the crowds gathered for the selection. Of course, the only sense that mattered here was his monstrous En, an amoeba-shaped murderous aura which sensed anything that it enveloped. Should anything inside move, he would know. But inside was none of his concern. Pufu or Yupi could handle that. (Besides, though he would hate to admit this, he could only detect a presence, and unless it was particularly strong, could not tell whose it was.)

Except for the tail, ears, unusual leg joints, and only four fingers on each hand, he was roughly human. Brown hair spilled around his wide eyes. His face and frame were oddly feminine for a man-eating ant.

It was so dull up here, waiting for something to happen, especially when he knew that something was happening, just beyond his En, where humans, most likely the Nen-equipped Rare Prey, were gathering to attack. He wanted to chase them, play with them, oh how he did! His eyes glazed over as he imagined killing them, tearing them to shreds, presenting the tender flesh and delicious warm blood to His Majesty. Maybe he would be praised. It would be so much fun to fight, to kill, eliminating the threat to His Majesty. Pitou was single-minded in that regard; his abilities, while they did bring him personal pleasure, were there only to be used for the King's sake.

He knelt before the invader in the wrecked tower, arm broken, outwardly paying a small fraction of his attention to the enraged, black-haired boy in front of him, but devoting most of it to the injured, pathetic blind girl behind him. A twisted figure attached to him, vaguely human and wearing a nurse's outfit, slowly sewed the girl back together on the King's orders. The King had ordered her to be saved, and now saving her was his only purpose in life. No matter what he had to promise, no matter how many limbs he had to tear apart and sever to convince the enemy that he was sincere in his promises, he would do that one thing.

Sitting before his mortal enemy, Gon Freaks trembled. He could barely stop himself from attacking Pitou, as he remembered what Pitou had done to Kite. He remembered Kite's body, scarred and torn, attached to a Nen puppeteer and forced to attack anyone who came near him. He could only imagine, with bile rising up his throat, what the Chimera Ant had done with him. What sort of twisted games the cat-boy had played, with Kite forced to take part, all for the sin of saving Gon and Killua from Pitou's murderous attack. Why had Kite suffered this fate, while the Ant healed the girl in front of him? It was not fair. Gon's eyes watered, but he would not let the tears come.

An hour passed in this state. Finally, Pitou relaxed. The job was done. A scream came from beyond the tower. Pitou and the invader looked towards it. Pufu, grinning sadistically, stood on top of the corpse of a man.

"Knuckle!" screamed Gon. Pitou reached out and grabbed his sleeve. Gon reflexively punched the Ant. Pitou let go collapsed on the ground.

"I'll heal your friend, just like I promised," Pitou gasped, feigning exhaustion. He glared at Pufu. "Don't interfere, Pufu," he said, standing and menacing the blond, winged Royal Guard. When they were close, he whispered, "Take care of the girl, as his Majesty commands. Don't you dare disobey his direct order. If you do, I'll kill you. Horribly. I won't make His Majesty stain His hands." Pufu flinched. Though he would not admit this, Pitou frightened him. He had no doubt that if he disobeyed the King's orders he would die one way or another. Though he hated the girl for weakening the king, he could not disobey. If he did, he would be committing the ultimate sin for his kind. It was not for him to question His Majesty's intentions.

"I'm gonna take care of the kid, OK?" Pitou whispered, the whirled around to face Gon. "I'm ready? Where is he?"

Gon glared. "Don't try anything. I know you're exhausted, and your arm's broken. Wait here, we'll go there after we finish our mission."

Pitou surreptitiously began to use Nurse Blythe on himself, using (what was it called?) In to disguise his aura. Gon was distracted, running over to Knuckle's corpse. Knuckle's face was twisted in pain still. He had died in agony. Tears ran down Gon's face. He screamed at the sky where Pufu had disappeared carrying the girl. Pitou finished healing himself.

Gon turned to Pitou, then shot back a few paces, faced with the full force of Pitou's aura. He raised his hands to fight, aura rising, fueled by his rage. "What happened to your promise?" he screamed.

Pitou cocked his head. "I said I'd go with you to restore your friend to normal, right? You didn't say whether you had to be dead or alive, nyah." Pitou grinned, tail flicking back and forth. "And I ain't gonna leave His Majesty here to fulfill a promise to a human. So there!" He stuck out his tongue at Gon. He was happy. He got to fight and protect his majesty. What purpose was there to a promise, anyway? No promise would come before his duty to the King.

"First comes Rock," Gon said, focusing his aura in his fist as he cocked it back to his hip. He hesitated, then charged Pitou, simultaneously extending his arm for the punch. Pitou dodged the blow, landing a punch to Gon's unprotected midriff. Blood followed in Gon's wake, spurting from his mouth, as he was thrown backwards. He remembered his teacher's words: "If you focus all your aura in one place, the attack will be monstrously powerful, but you leave your body unprotected. Any Nen attack will shatter it."

"Guess I'm stronger than you," Pitou said. He whistled, dragging the injured boy by the collar as he headed towards His Majesty.

Killua sensed Gon's aura disappearing. The boy with white, spiky hair, turned his head towards Gon's location. He ran, heedless of the plan. Now he had only one objective: protecting his only friend.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Cat Fight**

**At the time I'm writing this, it won't be canon, so please bear with me. Anything that Togashi-sensei has already written is something that I try as much as possible not to rehash, since I really can't do it justice.**

**As I have other concerns, updates on this will be sporadic, but I'll try to keep the story going :)**

Killua raced towards the source of Pitou's aura. Had it been anyone but Gon, he would not have noticed any change without using En (which, at the moment, he wished he could). But over the months of sleeping next to the goofy boy he knew every facet of his body.

At first it had been merely analytical, noticing the muscles and the body shape, estimating where each organ would be, and how he could kill him. As his brother Illumi had taught him, he visualized it several times. He did that with anyone who was worth noticing, especially if they were to be his companion for any short or long amount of time.

Later he began to notice other things, little habits that endeared Gon to him. The way he slept, heedless of anything around him, a bubble of snot trickling out one nostril. The way he ate, snarfing each and every bit of food down as though it were air. And most of all, the way he fought and stood proud and tall, even when facing an opponent he could not defeat. Hisoka, Chrollo, Razor, all had been strong enough to kill Gon with a flick of their fingers, and yet Gon held strong. To Killua, this was as foreign and stupid at first as it became touching and brave later on. Especially when faced with Killua's own cowardice. Which, he reminded himself, was still on the mend (after discovering that Illumi had implanted a needle in his head designed to cause crippling fear when faced with a strong opponent, he had ripped it out) as the palace groaned in the face of Nen combat.

Killua did not want to know where the monstrous ant he had just faced had gone. Remembering how the giant creature, with eerie wings and appendages that should not have been on even the most perverse biological horrors, had spared him, made him even less willing to put himself into that position again. But Gon was in trouble. And so into the (metaphorical) fire he ran.

Pitou's Nen vanished, and Killua was near where he had last sensed it. The ant's application of Zetsu was horrific, but Killua thanked his opponent for the advance warning of attack. Killua's senses extended, ears and eyes ready for any attack. He instinctively released his own aura, thinking of it as an extension of his other senses. He had learned En, but that was the least of his problems. He felt the top of his En give way, and suddenly he was standing in the midst of Pitou's aura. Unlike any other he had faced, this gave him the sensation of crawling in acid. Electrified acid. Ah, if only he had never known what that felt like.

His mind was wandering. The bloodlust was incredible.

Years killing and fearing being killed, being tortured, sleep deprived, and told never to relax suddenly came back to him. Recalling his aura and electrifying it, he reacted instantaneously when Pitou's Nen-enhanced blow hit his aura coating (about an inch from his skin). He diverted it with his wrist, twisted his body into the attack so that Pitou's arm slid past his body, and delivered a stabbing blow to Pitou's torsp, hand electrified and fingernails curled into cat's claws. The shock and the stab tore a hole in Pitou's chest. The ant grabbed at Killua's attacking arm with his own free hand, but Killua felt the motion and the electrical impulses in his aura transmitted nerve commands directly from the site of his attacking hand to the muscles controlling it. By avoiding having the impulses traveling the brain and then to the muscles, his reactions were many times faster than normal. Pitou pulled back after his hand grasped air.

Killua quickly realized three things: One, the ant was not carrying Gon. Two, he was stopping any bleeding from his chest with his aura. Three, the ant was now grinning, and his tail was flicking back and forth.

Of all the stupid--! The thing was having fun with him!

Killua attacked, first kicking, then following the punch with a Gyou-enhanced punch to Pitou's face, with an extra helping of lightning. Pitou ducked and launched an uppercut to Killua's chin using his legs for extra power. The blow glanced off of Killua. This time, he focused on shooting electricity through Pitou on contact, but the contact was so brief that the shock was minimal. His own chin was bruised, but not broken. Still, his head was rattled.

He grimaced. He would soon run out of charge, making his electric attacks, the only things that could possible do damage to the ant, completely useless. The one thing he could do was let Pitou hit him, then catch his arm and shock him, hopefully to the point of death. Pitou's aura and natural strength, despite Killua's superior martial arts skills, were more than enough to make a straight-out enhancement battle useless.

Pitou grinned. He was having the time of his life. Fighting was fun! This little boy had some good techniques and that electricity looked nasty. Killing him would be so entertaining!

Pitou attacked, and was shocked when he felt the boy's aura give way. His hand plunged into Killua's chest. The blow was twice as heavy as Killua had feared, but…! He still had to do it.

With blood spurting from his mouth, knowing that at least one of his organs must have been ruptured, he grasped Pitou's arm and discharged all of the electricity he had left.

Pitou shrieked like a dying vulture. His clothes caught fire along with his skin and hair as his muscles spasmed. His eyes rolled upwards as his aura and body strength attempted to fight the attack.

The discharge turned the sand beneath their feet to glass. Blue shocks played and cut the air around them. Thunder exploded from the spot.

The two of them were thrown apart, Pitou's arm charred enough that it ripped off and came with Killua. Though Killua could endure electric torture, he had never been exposed to an attack that powerful, and shielding himself from his own ability had not even registered as a concern. As he lost consciousness he only hoped that he had succeeded and that Gon would be safe.

Pitou for his part was already unconscious, having received the worst of the damage. His face was black and red, the flesh on his torso in places charred so badly that the bones showed.

Meryem looked down at the failure of his strongest subordinate. The ant with the exoskeleton and a vaguely Dragon Ball Z- villain-ish look to him carried the severed head of a man…


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Queen**

**Warning: Things get a little graphic. Like the nature channel. With humans getting eaten…**

Meryem lifted the head of the old man to his mouth and dug in his teeth. He felt the flesh give way and allow the sweet, salty blood to trickle into his mouth. With it came the flood of power from the defeated Hunter Committee Chairman Netero as the king absorbed the dead man's Nen power. His aura, already absurdly powerful in comparison to any human's, doubled in size. "So that was the power of the old fool," Meryem mused.

He had barely escaped from the old man's final recourse: blowing himself up. Of course, this was only because after the long and grueling fight, the hardest he had ever encountered, he wanted some measure of satisfaction other than hollow ideals like victory. His safety and the continuation of his reign was not the only thing he wanted to gain from the fight. And so, he had risked his safety (a foolish notion, he thought, one that he would not repeat) to decapitate his prone enemy and take the head with him.

The new aura strengthened the weary and devastated muscles and nearly shattered bones from Netero's powerful, supersonic attacks. He finished off the flesh, then cracked open the skull and ate the brain. It was still warm.

Meryem noticed an unconscious boy lying behind a wall of rubble. A human. The king stared at the scene, wondering why and how anyone defeated by his men had just been left there and not killed or captured, or why the enemy had left one of their own behind, and a child at that (the humans had such an odd way of protecting their offspring when they would do much better to survive and procreate again). Then he looked at Pitou, and realized that Pitou must have taken him as a toy, then been forced to fight the other enemy, and had hidden his first toy from harm.

Though he was not one to consider his subordinates' wishes, he figured allowing Pitou this one luxury would not be out of place. Besides, he could now be generous. The strongest foe the humans could muster had been dispached with minimal damage to himself. The personal satisfaction gained from the fight was enough to cancel out any major desire to eat the boy then and there and tell Pitou to shove any complaints (not that Pitou would actually complain to the King's face) up his rear end.

The king sighed, then yelled, "Pufu!" The guard approached hesitantly. After he had assumed the king dead in the explosion, he had begun to tear up the landscape and threatening to kill every human on the planet. Then he saw the king, and with tears welling from his eyes flew at him and hugged him. The king was… not pleased, and had promptly punched Pufu so hard that his nose broke.

"Yes, Your Majesty?" Pufu said.

"Take Pitou and these two humans to the infirmary. Tell the doctor to treat Pitou first. He can deal with the two humans when he recovers. And please, Pufu, don't eat them. Should you choose to disobey me," the king added menacingly, "I will hug you back."

Pufu shuddered.

(Scene Change)

The human doctor sighed as he looked down at Pitou's body, lying prone on a sterilized bed. The Royal Guard would not be easy to treat, and without any basis for skin grafts or any idea of what drugs would work, even saving his life, let alone repairing any scarring damage, would be nigh impossible. The only thing that might have worked would have been Nen, but this doctor did not have that capability. The king had sent Pufu to find a Nen doctor, but in the meantime the palace doctor had to keep the ant alive, or he would surely be killed. Not that it would have been any different when he was treating the Great Leader, but at least he had known how to deal with that man's injuries. This goddammed ant biology!

He looked at the injured white-haired boy and sighed. At the very least he could do something about this one, though oddly the king had ordered that he remain sedated.

The black-haired boy was also kept unconscious by was of an IV. The doctor disliked this, fearing permanent damage, for which he would certainly be blamed, damn the fact that he was only following orders. That was, after all, the way those in command looked at their subordinates: tools to disregard when they succeeded but who were suddenly blamed for any failure that the leader might have brought about.

The doctor heard a knock on the door. He opened it hesitantly, but it was not the horrible ant king, but a blind girl. Her blonde hair was restrained (barely) in two wild clumps on each side of her head. Snot dribbled out of her nose.

"So sorry, sir," she mumbled. "Is His Majesty here?"

"He is not. This is the infirmary." He hesitated, noticing that she seemed lost. If he let her wander, and something bad happened, he would be blamed. "Um… are you lost?"

"Just a little. Do you think you could help me find the Gun Gi room?" He nodded, then hastily replied verbally.

"Yes." He took a last look at his patients. They were stable. He could spare a few minutes.

After the door closed, Killua opened his eyes and pulled out the IV, grimacing at his injuries. The burns were painful, muscles stiff, but at least his bones and his aura were relatively intact. Though he cursed his parents for the years of torture and poisoning, he had to thank them, grudgingly, for giving him the tolerance to remain conscious in the face of any sedative.

He looked over at Gon, then quickly stood and pulled out Gon's IV. If the worst came to the worst, he would have to carry Gon. But, that would leave him with a major handicap in battle.

Killua found the cords to some sort of heavy duty medical appliance, and ripped them from the apparatus and fired up his aura. The current from the socket hit him full force, but he gritted his teeth as his electric aura recharged. The process would take perhaps five minutes. Hopefully Gon would wake and the doctor would not be back by the end of that time.

The doctor was leading Komugi (the blind Gun Gi champion) around an area of the palace that he did not know. The two of them together were more lost than ever. They had walked in on the corrupt minister Bizef raping a prostitute. He had had to hastily give Komugi some innocent explanation for the horror, while he himself was trying to forget the image. They had walked in on the dumb Royal Guard, Yupi, eating the carcass of some poor human. Yupi did not even notice them as he shoved whole arms down his throat. And now they were wandering the opulent halls with the hope that they would magically discover the king.

"What are you doing, fool?" A cold voice said from behind them. "Did I not tell you to watch Neferpitou at all times?" The doctor gulped and wet his pants. They had found the king, and magic had nothing to do with it.

He turned around and bowed deeply, while Komugi stammered, "I-I'm so sorry Your Majesty, I asked him to help me find the Gun Gi room. I didn't know he was already doing something."

"I don't blame you, Komugi," the king said gently. "Now get back to your infirmary before I tear you open!" he snarled at the doctor, who ran for his life.

Just then he remembered that he could now not find his way to the infirmary. He cursed whichever cruel god had led him to this fate.

Gon woke up slowly, a black cloud pressing down on him, keeping him halfway asleep and unable to do anything but wait for the terror to pass. He was pinned. Something was opening its mouth to swallow him.

"Gon, snap out of it!" Killua commanded, shaking his friend. "Wake up. We have to get out of here!"

"Killua? Why are you here? Where am I?" It was a beautiful day. Bright sunlight entered through the window.

"The ants' palace. And we'll be ant food if we don't get out now. So wake up, fool." Gon frowned. He did not appreciate that tone.

"Shut up." He sat up and punched Killua in the arm, then winced as his friend yelped. He realized the Killua was covered in burns. "S-sorry," he said, ashamed.

Killua gave him the thumbs up sign. "No problem. Just get your butt in gear."

As the two prepared to flee, Gon noticed Pitou. "Let's take him, Killua."

"Why? We can't carry him and escape."

Gon's mouth tightened stubbornly. "He can help us fix Kite."

"Yeah, only if we heal him from that point. And after all the trouble I went to to do that to him, helping him is the last thing I want to do." Gon's eyes widened.

"You did that? Wow!" That Killua had injured the enemy he had lost to was an incredible thought to Gon. He had always known that Killua was somewhere ahead of him in combat skill, but since the Zaoldyeck had always been content to take the backseat when it came to fighting, he had never realized that Killua was capable of something like that. In a way, it made him feel inferior.

"I'll take him," Gon decided, and picked up Pitou, ignoring the ant's moan of agony. "If we get in trouble, we can just drop him, right? It's not like he's our friend or anything."

Killua threw up his arms and walked to the window. He noticed a certain lack of security, probably in the aftermath of their dramatic invasion failure. He broke the window after checking for alarms and finding none. "I give up. Just get over here fast!"

The two boys climbed out the window. The grass around them was green. As they started to run from the palace, a soldier ant tried to stop them but was ripped in two by Killua. There was no protective En around the palace, for some reason (they could not know that Yupi was busy and that Pufu was elsewhere) and precious few human or ant guards were watching. They would be looking for intruders, not escapees. (It probably helped that the king was preoccupied with Komugi and that the soldier ants had been mostly dispached by the other invaders, leaving the palace understaffed. Not that anyone in the country remained who could possibly injure the king.)

Outside the palace walls, the boys looked at each other and grinned.

Inside, the king smirked as he said, "Checkmate." It was his fist victory against the blind champion. With the new senses and experience gained from fighting Netero, he had finally (but with much effort; much as the chairman had been his most challenging physical fight, so was Komugi his most challenging mental fight) defeated her.

Komugi flinched. She bowed her head, tears welling in her eyes. "You have beaten me, Your Majesty. May I be excused to end my life as I see fit?" There was no value in her life if she lost at Gun Gi, and she had long since sworn to kill herself at her first loss. As a child, that had been her only use to anyone, to the starving family that she kept out of poverty by defeating the champions of other countries. Surely some of those also knew that if they failed, even if they were not executed by the leadership of the country they had shamed, that they would be ostracized and useless: as good as dead.

"No." She looked up at him, shocked. Why did he refuse? Did he not understand that her life was Gun Gi and nothing more? That she had no reason to continue on living, for now she was no use to anyone at all? No one needed her, so no one would bother to keep her around or to care for her. If they did, she would only be a burden upon them.

"Please, Your Majesty, I have no more reason to live. You have no further use for me." She trembled, remembering her happiness at being with him and playing Gun Gi with him, having a challenging opponent who valued her skill and her company. She would miss that, more than any other thing in her largely pleasure-devoid life. She would miss being more than needed, being desired for a personal reason and not the honor of the state. She was finally valued as more than a bragging right, even if, as she suspected, the being in front of her valued her more as a curiosity, something that did not fit into his everyday world. She knew that he had never lost at a game, that he had defeated and killed all of the other champions in the country. But she knew, somehow, that to him, she was different.

"Yes, you do. You will die only when I tell you to." His tone was harsh and uncompromising. He could not allow weakness to show, especially not to her. Her perception, despite her being blind, was surprisingly sharp. And when he himself felt like he was diving into a void (the sickening sensation of free fall hit his stomach) he could hardly bear having someone know that. He faced this state alone as always, too proud to do anything else. But maybe, with this girl, there would be light at the end of the void. She gave him something new, experiences beyond the thrill of killing and power. Something beyond mere dominance.

He was well aware that he was not meant to be in this world. He did not belong. His power was too great, his viciousness surpassing all but the most cruel of humans. All animals ran before he caught them. Even his own kind, monstrosities though they were to the humans (and the entire ecosystem) were mere fodder to his desires, something to be eaten. He was not truly one of them.

Maybe with this girl he could discover something more meaningful in killing. Before, when he had known nothing but his own hedonistic pleasure and desire to conquer, that had satisfied him. But now that he knew that there was something else out there, he could not rest until he had experienced it. Even if it turned out to be unworthy of his greatness, he would not let that chance go by.

"Of course," she conceded. Her voice was hollow and dead. After a quick gasp, like wind on dry leaves, she started to speak again. "But--!"

"Be my Queen." Meryem interrupted, saying the words hastily, almost embarrassed. But once the words came, his dread vanished, and almost instinctively, he charged his aura. Now, without hesitation, he knew that he was meant to do this, if only because he decided that he was. Power flowed through him, bringing a jagged grin to his face.

"What?" The king stood, the fire of madness burning deep in his eyes. His aura expanded, enveloping Komugi. It was heavy and dark, but rather than stifling her, it lifted her like a pair of giant wings, above her normal level of consciousness. All of her senses heightened, and that intangible sense that she had when playing Gun Gi now arrived, magnified many times over. She could feel all of the objects in the room, could reach out almost mentally to touch them. She felt strength unlike anything else in her limbs. The aura she had developed while playing Gun Gi was now gently released by the King's baptism, and her Nen stretched as far as it would go, enveloping the palace grounds, tasting the grass and the birds and the open air. Gon and Killua shuddered at the presence, the towering En of some monster they had not known before, something as strong but less malevolent, or maybe just less openly malevolent, than Pitou's own.

The king smiled and held out his hand to Komugi. She felt the motion and extended hers. Power shocked them both, flowing between them.

"Your… Your Majesty?" she whispered.

He spoke in a deep, resonating voice, flowing with the strength of his Nen. "I know now that I am truly indestructible. No one can stand against me. I will take the world from its unworthy human masters. I will create and preside over a world where all will become what they deserve to be. And you will be at my side. I can think of no one more worthy, my Queen."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Terpishora**

**This will be something of a Pitou tribute. Warning: Spoilers!**

**I'm going to incorporate some canon into my story, but I know that the circumstances will not be the same (due to earlier parts of my story deviating from canon). Please bear with me.**

In a castle surrounded by heavy foliage and huge trees coated with vines, Killua wiped down Gon's sweating forehead with a cold cloth. Gon trembled with fever and moaned softly. Killua pulled up the blankets that Gon had thrown aside during his fitful sleep. Gon had been injured more than Killua had realized; more than the stubborn boy had let on, Killua mused; he always had to be tough. Along with the internal injuries that, thanks to the boy's Reinforcement type nen were healing much more quickly than normal (Killua himself practiced Ten each day in order to speed the healing of his still painful burns), this nagging infection from the stress of escape put Gon in a dangerous position.

Killua kept Pitou, already almost recovered due to a Chimera Ant's natural healing abilities, drugged and chained, though he knew that once the royal guard woke there would be no containing him without a fight. The most important part of the plan was to keep Pitou heavily sedated (skirting death, but Killua did not really care) while he and Gon healed sufficiently to handle Pitou, preferably by removing all of his limbs before allowing him to wake.

Outside, it rained.

"What do you mean, you can't heal him?" Gon screamed. Killua watched helplessly as Pitou and Gon faced each other with the intent to kill. Any attempt to interfere would be an affront to Gon's pride (the pride that had not allowed him to incapacitate Pitou beforehand).

Pitou glared at Gon, determined that this boy, with swelling Nen powers (how had he not noticed this before?) would never reach the King. For that was his duty. Not to play, not to enjoy himself, but to serve the King. He was there to be whatever the King needed him to be. As Gon transformed in front of him, monstrous, dark aura covering his body as it twisted and grew, PItou summoned his final and strongest ability. "Terpishora, puppet master's serenity. Defy your limits and dance!" he muttered to himself. Behind him, a Nen monster, a catlike figure with one eye, attached its strings to Pitou's body. At first, he had only tried to manipulate others. But now, he had completely abandoned any thought of himself as an individual. The massively powerful Nen ability came from the surrender of his being to be controlled. The power of servitude, the determination of living for something else, these chains bound Pitou and gave him greater strength.

Gon, tears streaming from his eyes, was confused. What was happening? Kite was dead? For real? But why? Pitou could heal him, Pitou had said that he would heal him. Oh, Pitou was using his ability. But healing himself? Not Kite. "Please," whimpered Gon. "You can heal yourself after you take care of him." Then came the words:

"I'm sorry, but I have to kill you for the King."

The rage came. This was all Pitou's fault _my fault it's my fault that Kite died_ and he would have revenge _let me die too then we'll be even_. Without knowing consciously what he was doing, Gon allowed his aura to transform him. Now that he had cut loose any ties he had to living, he could allow himself all of his power, all the power that he would ever have, that he would have gained from years of training and battle experience, because he no longer wanted those things. He had no life that he had to live for anyone now. All of his chains shattered and gave Gon greater strength.

The two clashed.

In an underground hospital in East Goruto, Killua wiped the sweat from Gon's forehead, crying. Gon had returned to his childlike state, but now all of his Nen was gone, and he was, without a doubt, dying. Killua could tell that at least one internal organ had ruptured, and without Nen even Gon's natural healing abilities would be no match for it.

He could feel the monstrous Nen, even this far from the palace. The King was alive, and more powerful than ever before. There was truly no hope. Gon had defeated Pitou, but the guard's headless corpse, animated by the ghastly after-death Nen, had taken Gon's arm. Worse, it had, in the end, taken his Nen. Worse yet, Pitou had protected his master, who now stood on the edge of world domination.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Hell**

**Sorry about the long time since the last update. Writers' block is a b****, no?**

Pufu stood by the side of his King, trembling. Something hot burned in his stomach and in his eyes, something with a name: hatred. Such an ugly word and an even uglier emotion, though Pufu liked to think that his hatred came from a pure source. That infernal girl had seduced the king, his King, and now all Pufu could think of was his desire to kill her. This desire kept him on edge, feeling slightly ill, muscles tightened, always ready to kill if she gave him an opportunity. Unfortunately, an opportunity was the last thing she or the King was going to give him. The two were always together, and Pufu knew that while she was with the King, there was no chance of killing her. He would be torn apart the instant he twitched threateningly in her direction.

He was forced to channel his rage into a different pursuit, namely torturing and killing anything he could find in the palace. Yupi had learned to avoid Pufu, for fear of being mauled. The other Royal Guard's arm was scarred from where Pufu, after howling maniacally, had sunk his teeth in to the bone. Small animals and even the new 'selected' soldiers, half human and half ant, ran from Pufu whenever they could. Some were not so lucky and were dismembered alive or were subjected to Pufu splitting into tiny pieces and eating them from the inside.

The King, of course, knew of Pufu's rage and the reason for it. And so he tolerated Pufu's presence less and less as time went on. Now, as Komugi once again forced the King into a checkmate, the King looked sideways at Pufu and twitched his eyes towards the door. Pufu knew his dismissal and left, trembling. He would leave and then he would find something to hurt, oh yes he would. He smirked, thinking of it.

"Wait, Pufu. I have something for you to do." Pufu stopped, pleasure rising inside. He whirled around and knelt.

"Of course, my King, anything for you," he said. The King paused, observing the sudden mood change with a small grin. Then his face became somber once more.

"Down in the basement, there's something I've been working on using Pitou's research materials. It should be ready now. I want you to bring it to me." Though confused, Pufu nodded and left the room with his head lowered. Once outside the room he rose and skipped, eyes wet and shimmering with tears, through the hallways. Yupi saw him and stared, but Pufu could not even bring himself to care what the huge stupid bastard thought of him. All that mattered was that his King, his King had given him a task. That meant that he was still needed, still loved. That he still had a purpose in his life, despite the efforts of that _sow_ to destroy the King that he loved.

Entering Pitou's lab was a familiar experience, but not an entirely pleasant one. The room smelled of stale catnip, in which Pitou, before his death, would periodically bathe himself. The room was sterile when they had discovered it, but now it was filled with blood and eerily pulsing, living flesh, seemingly unconnected to anything that would give it a reason to live. Pufu shuddered. This had been Pitou's secret 'Project', then, the one that Pitou had refused to share with Pufu. A lung pulsed by his head, and somewhere within the tissue covering the walls, ceiling and floor and heart pumped the blood through this… thing. In the center of the room, something inside a huge bag of flesh lay on the operating table. It was similar to the vast meat garden of Nen-equipped humans in membrane storage. The ability to produce such a biological oddity, a womb that combined DNA to form a new creature from the ant DNA and whichever creature was placed inside was due to the unique type of flesh that Pitou had synthesized. That was likely what was covering the walls, though Pufu had never known it to exist seemingly far from any living being (when the flesh was grown, it had to be used for a womb quickly, where it would live in tandem with the living thing it was modifying). To grow it was simple, but required an abundance of nutrients and a carefully controlled climate. Pufu sniffed the air and choked; there was the sudden smell of rotting meat, and he saw a mouth-like orifice on the wall pulling in a half-digested human. He shuddered. It was all _so _disgusting.

Just then the creature in the womb extended an arm though the membrane with a ripping sound that made Pufu jump back in fright. It climbed from the womb, tearing the flesh back. Blood and some disgusting clear fluid poured from the womb, soiling the flood. Pufu gagged and put a hand over him mouth, stumbling backwards in horror. The creature climbed from the womb followed by another. Pufu's eyes widened and a scream crawled out of his throat. Standing before him were two beings with familiar, wide eyes, and blood-streaked blond hair, feminine faces, ears and tails. Two copies of Pitou stared at him, wide-eyed with curiosity. He fell to his knees.

They moved together, eyes remaining fixed on Pufu as he crawled sideways towards the door. And they spoke together, voices horrifyingly the same, the same voice that should never come out of two separate beings. "Where is His Majesty?" Pufu fainted. The two of them looked at each other.

"He's like us, isn't he?" the first to emerge asked.

"But he's different. He's weird."

"Yup," the first agreed.

"I'm hungry," the second whined. The first stroked the second's hair tenderly.

"Me too. What should we eat?"

"Let's eat out," the second declared, tail twitching back and forth. "It'll be fun and I want to see something besides this boring room."

"Do we have time for things like that? We have to meet his majesty." The first started walking and the second scrambled to catch up.

"Why don't we take a snack for the way then?" The first stopped and slowly, they both began to study Pufu. They looked back to each other and grinned identical grins.

Killua was in hell. The hell only his eldest brother's arms could bring. Illumi had hugged him the instant he completed the trip to the Zaoldyeck house and Illumi had answered the door to Killua's knock. Killua remembered the crushing strength and the unpleasant feeling of long black hair falling on the back of his neck. Ever since that time, Illumi had stalked him throughout the house, waiting outside the bathroom whenever Killua had to use it and somehow finding him quickly when Killua would escape out the window. He would open it and begin climbing down, only to see Illumi and his creepy black eyes like oil wells waiting below. And when he climbed back up and tried to run, Illumi would be waiting outside the bathroom, reading a dirty magazine.

Killua checked in on Gon every now and then, but could not quite bring himself to speak with his best friend. He knew that Gon found Zeno's physical therapy humiliating, and that his friend would rather not have Killua see him struggle to perform simple physical tasks. Gon would tremble now even trying to feed himself with a spoon. And so Killua was left to the hell that was Illumi's care.

On the journey here, they had not exchanged any conversation about any subject besides those strictly necessary for travel: food, lodging, transportation, when to fight and when to flee. They had encountered the other Chimera Ants while traveling back through NGL and had warned Colt to flee. While on the run they had met Satotz, to whom they conveyed the information that Netero and the rest of the extermination team had perished. As the blond Hunter told them, twirling his mustache in a nervous way, the hunter association had assumed this, with no word from Netero for two weeks, but the board, always cautious in matters that could lead to war, decided to do nothing about the imminent demise of the free world.

News sources around the world had been suspiciously silent about East Goruto, but Silva's sources in the top levels of government told him that war was inevitable. The only question was, how would they prepare for war with what would soon be an army of superhuman Nen-users? Killua, fearing for their safety, headed to the most fortified and secure location, to his knowledge, in the world: his own home. Here, too, Gon could receive some sort of help for his… problem. It was hell here, reliving the memories of killing and torture, but he knew that it was the only place they could go. The rest of the world would soon become an even worse hell.

Gon stared up desperately at the Zaoldyeck grandfather, trying to walk without falling to the ground. Zeno's white eyebrows lowered with his eyes, his wrinkled mouth setting itself in a hard expression. "Boy, you won't accomplish anything by trying it all at once. You're the type that always learns something all or nothing. You need to take risks, but they've always paid off. You learn best by throwing yourself into a situation and figuring it out from within. But you can't do that this time. This time, it will be slow, and it will be gradual." Gon glared at Zeno.

"Those eyes say that I don't know you, and you'd be right," Zeno said, smiling in a twisted manner. "But no matter how angry you get, you can't change anything this time. Anger is fine, but you're going to have to use it well. The more you hate me and hate yourself, the more you tell yourself that what I have to tell you is worthless, the longer it takes you to get back to where you were. And you're going to have to come to terms with the fact that you may never be the same as you were." Gon's legs gave out and he collapsed, sobbing. Zeno offered no comfort, but pulled him up roughly by the neck and threw him into a wheelchair. "If all you're going to do is snivel, then get out of here."

Gon sat alone in the garden, staring at the variety of poisonous plants. A fly landed on one and melted away from the liquid on the purple leaves. The sun was low, the air humid and filled with scents. Somewhere on the mountain someone screamed. Gon's ears detected a ripping sound. He wished that he could be out in the forest, running and playing, or hunting. All of the things that he had done back as a child (he was still a child, he reminded himself, but the phrase seemed apt nonetheless) to comfort himself were now unavailable. All he could do was dream of them.

He fought his way into bed that night and cried until he had no energy to cry any longer.

The next morning he wheeled himself to Zeno and looked up into the pitiless eyes, and said, "I'll do what you tell me to." Zeno nodded, still stern, then smiled.

"You remind me a lot of Killua," he said. "Always stubborn, but with potential. I'll help you."

Three months later, Gon sat by a river with a fishing pole and waited for something to bite. Killua sat next to him, but neither talked. The late afternoon breeze brushed through the trees, and the soothing gurgle of the water made them both relax as much as could be expected. This was, after all, the first time in months that they had been together.

Gon had practically lived in a separate world, enduring nothing but Zeno's therapy. After all of that, and even after a visit from a Nen healer, he had been restored to little more than his physical skill level at the Hunter Exam. His Nen, according to what Silva had heard from Zeno, would never recover completely. Although he could still produce aura and to a degree refine it (that was the ultimate reason that his body had recovered at all, the process of reinforcing and replenishing his body's strength with his own aura reserves), he could not control it enough to perform any application of Hatsu. Even Gyo, a simple technique, was now beyond him, leaving him without any of his Nen attacks.

Killua had trained with his father for what Silva had said would be the final time. The past few months, to Killua, had been nothing but an endless stream of days filled with fighting and pain. Silva's new method of training was simple: the two of them would try and beat each other to a pulp. After three months, Killua had won only twice, the first by luck and strategy, and the second a true win. It had been that win that had convinced Silva to end the training.

By all accounts a dreadful war continued to be fought between the King's army and the rest of the world. Nen soldiers and East Goruto's ample cache of weapons of mass destruction turned the tide in the King's favor, but even then it was all but impossible to overwhelm the entire world at once. His losses were massive, but once he captured a population center and transformed its inhabitants, his army would be deadlier than ever. Countries sent troop after troop of soldiers, but they were only annihilated. Killua had heard that a 'victory' was the sarcastic term for a battle in which both sides massacred each other. Though the world was costing the King dearly, it appeared that they could do little beyond dig in their feet and postpone their loss for a few years.

Unless, Silva had said, a massive army of Nen users could be created, attack the King and his Royal Guards, and kill them. Without its head, the King's army could undoubtedly be defeated. But such a thing took time and political maneuvering between countries, all of whom were loath to send their best Nen users. And of course, the strongest Nen users tended not to be associated with a specific country.

But Killua and Gon cared little for such things at the moment. Now all that mattered was the two of them and the awkward silence between them.

It broke when Killua slapped Gon. The noise was flat and quick. Gon, startled, allowed the blush to spread on his cheek without moving or even raising a hand to it.

Then he spoke. "Why'd you do that?"

Killua glared at the water, his eyes hidden in shadow. "You've given up everything now, Gon. And for what? Revenge? You were ready to give up _me_." And this was the heart of the matter. "You fought like you had nothing to lose. And if you had nothing to lose, then I was nothing to you."

Gon was silent, then simply said, "I'm sorry." Killua rose and started to walk away.

"Wait, Killua!" Gon cried. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry!" The last phrase was choked out. "I want to be your friend, Killua. You're all I have now." Killua stopped.

"You're doing it again, Gon," he said coldly. "You're forgetting what you have. What would Kurapika and Leorio, and your Aunt Mito think if they heard you say that? You let yourself get all caught up in your anguish and then you don't think. That's your problem really. If you weren't such a dummy, then none of this would have happened." Killua tasted salt from his own tears and Gon stared at the ground, clenching his fists, grimacing and shaking.

Killua could not keep himself from turning, from hugging Gon and wiping away his tears. Foolishness maybe, but that was friendship.

Gon's voice trembled. "You forgive me?"

"Of course, you dummy!" Killua whispered in his ear. "Maybe I was sad, and maybe I was angry. But I've never needed to forgive you. I've never stopped caring about you."

Illumi sat behind a tree and snarled. _His_ Killua was being ruined, he had known it from the softness in his brother's eyes as soon as he had come home, but he had ignored it, hoping that it was not so. But it was. This Gon would have to go, but Illumi could hardly kill him. No, that would not do, because how would that change Killua. Killua might me stronger now, but it was only a physical strength. Illumi could see that despite what Silva might think, the boy's mindset had not improved at all.

Somehow, Illumi would have to kill him.

Elsewhere, fires burned in a ruined city. Children screamed and adults called to one another. The dead lay like garbage throughout a street pitted with craters and burning remains of weaponry. A blond man in a military uniform stood still and stared at a pillaged museum while the rest of the city tried to recover from an ant attack. He took in the details of the scene: precious artwork gone, a heritage stolen, to be sold to satisfy greed; security guards dead, their corpses containing evidence of swift but brutal deaths; the smell of burnt building, blood and urine, the lingering aura of terror. He muttered two words like some sort of curse: "Phantom Troupe."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Ambush**

**Warnings: Violence, Blood, and Gore. Please tell me if you think that the rating should go up or not.**

Kurapika's assistant handed him coffee, then stood next to him and surveyed the art museum. "Bastards hit us hard, didn't they?" Kurapika sipped cautiously, then swallowed the burning hot liquid with gusto. Any kind of warmth in this nightmarish scene was welcome.

"Yes, they did, Private." His voice was soft, his shoulders tense.

"Those ant bastards are evil," the soldier said. He grimaced and squeezed his clenched fist tight. "I wish we could pay them back for this."

"Yes, they are, Private, and we will. But they didn't do this." The soldier gawked at Kurapika. He opened his mouth a few times, disbelieving expressions coursing over his face.

"Pardon me saying this, but it sure as hell looks like they did it, sir."

Kurapika sighed. "That's what the people who did this wanted you to think. But the building was destroyed in a completely different fashion than the others. The ants don't use their ground troops to destroy buildings. They kill survivors and eat the bodies, but only after they've bombarded the city with air attacks and missiles. This building was leveled by a carefully placed attack to the supports. It imploded." He pointed at the collapsed wreck. "There is no pattern to the wreckage congruent with any sort of explosive round. The charges used were too well placed to come from an external source. Also, while the ants certainly leave the dead lying around, they also leave everything else lying around. If they had done this, we would be standing on top of smashed artwork. Humans stole the art. No ant would consider it to be of any worth."

The Private nodded, then said, "Sir, shouldn't we be worrying about the ants, instead of some human looters?" Kurapika turned to him, halting his staring contest with the wreckage. "S-sorry, sir," the soldier muttered quickly. "It slipped out."

"I understand, Private. With all the evil the ants have caused, you wonder how I could worry about anything else." The soldier nodded and stared at his feet, flushed and ashamed.

A hopeless frustrated expression worked itself through Kurapika's facial muscles, then gave way to his normal neutral expression. He released the tension in his shoulders with a deep breath and a sigh.

"Yes, perhaps. For now, at least." Kurapika turned from the scene and walked back towards the regional headquarters. The soldier followed close behind. There was soot and smoke everywhere. While some buildings remained, others were only half there, the burned wooden frames left with the flesh (the electronics, insulation, decorations, walls, ceilings) burned off, and others were nothing more than piles of wood, concrete and metal, like massive horrible campfire wood waiting to be lit. The road they walked was cracked and in places overturned as if a giant mole had dug in to it. The asphalt had melted and solidified in twisted formations where missiles and mortars had landed. Everywhere, people moved: rescue workers desperately trying to find the dead, soldiers helping the emergency services, and people calling out for their loved ones or just screaming as they died. Kurapika passed half of a child, everything below the torso gone, and felt ill. He clenched his teeth and his eyes shone bright red.

Headquarters was a bunker beneath City Hall. Underground, techs tried to connect computers to military networks, having to work around the occasionally ruined land lines. Officers gave commands by radio, and the commanders sat around a table with a map of the city on it, pinpointing trouble areas whenever a radio report came and relaying their commands to the officers.

Kurapika's company, S Company, was spread over the city and had orders simply to help where necessary. As one of three companies of Nen-users available to the Allied Forces, they were organized as a company mainly for the sake of convenience. In practice, they were spread over many different units, supplementing the ground forces and fighting the ants wherever high command deemed they would be most useful. The Private, however, could use his Nen to contact all of the members whenever Kurapika needed them for a joint operation (mainly dealing with a Royal Guard or Division Commander and its forces). Most of S Company was comprised of Hunters.

Kurapika saluted the table of commanders and then sat down next to a general. The man was yanking irritably at his white hair. "General Knov," Kurapika said quietly, "do you have any orders?" Knov turned his haunted gaze, dead eyes behind glasses, and regarded Kurapika blankly for a moment. Then he seemed to remember Kurapika.

"Yes, Kurapika. I do, er, have something for you. What did you find in terms of looting and such?" He tapped his fingers on the table.

"Several museums and banks were robbed. Most of the jobs were crude and evidently simply done by people running in during the chaos and taking whatever they could. However, one museum in particular was expertly taken. The guards were all killed and the building destroyed to make it look like an ant attack. I believe we may need to give more thought to the rumors that the Phantom Troupe may be in Yorknew once more."

Knov considered this. "Don't you have a history with the Troupe, Kurapika?"

Kurapika grimaced, then nodded. "Yes, sir."

"And this could lead to you jumping to a hasty conclusion about their presence here in Yorknew, am I right?"

Kurapika spoke hesitantly. "Yes, sir."

"Despite this, you genuinely believe that the Troupe is here and is planning to use the chaos of the war in order to get away with their crimes without anyone trying to stop them." Knov stared into space. "They'd be right, of course. We have no resources to deal with them. We've got to focus on the ants, Kurapika. Anyway, I want you to take a group of your best fighters and check out something on the north end of the city. Our people have been disappearing over there. All we could get from the troops we sent in to replace them were a few screams. You're dismissed."

Kurapika forced his clenched fist to relax, then stood and saluted Knov. "Yes, sir." He turned and left the room. The Private fell in step behind him.

"Orders, sir?"

Kurapika thought it over, then said, "Contact Razor, Melody, Genthru, Sub, and Bara. Tell them to meet me in Central Square as quickly as they can." The Private nodded. An earpiece with a microphone traveling from it to rest by the Private's mouth appeared on the Private's head. He spoke into it. "Operator, give me Razor, Melody, and Genthru. Three way communication, please. Thank you."

At first, Kurapika had wondered why the Private had created such an ability when military radio would work just as well. One day, however, the Private had intercepted ant radio signals using his ability, saving their lives by warning them of an ambush by one of the Royal Guards. Since then, Kurapika kept the Private with him at all times as his personal assistant.

Genthru and his assistants, Sub and Bara, were the first to arrive at Central Square. The blond haired man with a long face and glasses saluted Kurapika, and the two men following him, one with narrowed eyes and blond hair, the other with shoulder-length black hair, both with tattoos on their foreheads, followed suit. Kurapika acknowledged them with a nod, being sure not to be too friendly. From what he had heard, the group were killers who had fought with Gon and Killua while playing the game Greed Island. But their skills were valuable and they were perfectly willing to fight against the ants, and so Kurapika fought aside his grudge as much as could be expected.

Razor came next, jogging into the square. His military uniform pants had been cut off at the knees to form shorts. Kurapika thought it looked tacky, but it made no real difference to him what his soldiers wore. He made sure to return Razor's salute. Kurapika knew that the only reason Razor had a lower rank that Kurapika was that Razor was a death row convict, and Kurapika was not.

Melody arrived last. The short woman with buck teeth and stringy brown hair wore earplugs. She was trying, Kurapika knew, to avoid hearing the sounds of suffering all around them. He regretted needing to expose her to it yet again, but he would need her exceptional hearing to give them forewarning of whatever threat was in the north city. Kurapika wanted to avoid using En as long as he could. While it would tell him where an enemy was, it would also tell the enemy where he was. As long as the enemy was not using En, then his group, with Melody, would have the advantage. And if the enemy was using En, there was always the chance that his or her range would be less than the range of Melody's hearing.

Kurapika began to run, weaving in and out of the military traffic. The others followed, easily outstripping the slow-moving vehicles. It took them five minutes to reach the north district. Traffic thinned and disappeared as soon as they reached areas of destroyed road. The Nen users were able to continue, but the cars had to use an alternate route. They passed aid workers and soldiers everywhere, but these two began to disappear .

Kurapika said, "Melody, plugs out," as they approached the border between the central district and the north.

The north contained mainly low-income housing. Poorly built, with cheap materials, it had suffered extensive damage during the attack. Only a few buildings had survived. Kurapika cursed. The lack of cover would increase the danger of being discovered quickly by the enemy, and lowered their chances of a successful ambush. The area had not yet received relief workers, the soldiers that were sent there having been killed, and Kurapika knew from Melody's grimaces that she could here the sounds of people dying, bleeding, suffocating and being crushed to death under rubble.

The group slowed. Kurapika looked at Melody. "I hear a heartbeat up ahead. It's steady. There are a few more, but they're either faint or irregular and afraid. It's two blocks ahead and one to the right."

They approached the location tentatively, Genthru, Sub, and Bara looping around behind and Razor approaching from a different angle than Kurapika and Melody. Kurapika could hear screams up ahead. He crouched behind half of a brick wall and cautiously looked out from behind it.

An ant was gleefully ripping the intestines out of a screaming child. Kurapika's reaction was quick and visceral. He attacked it and punched it in the head, hoping that it would release the organs. It did. It flew backwards and hit a wall. Kurapika knelt and quickly grabbed the intestines and put them back inside the child. He held out his hand, from which five chains dangled. The one on his thumb wrapped around the child's body and encased it in energy.

The ant screamed in fury. Its rage was short-lived. Genthru grabbed it by the neck and detonated the Nen on his grabbing hand. The ant, seemingly unable to use basic Nen control, left only a thin layer of aura guarding his throat. His head was blasted off of his body. Razor crushed it dismissively.

While he healed the child, he had a moment to think something through. All soldiers were equipped with armor piercing rounds, which were enhanced with explosives to the point of being able to kill weak Nen-users. This ant should have been no exception.

As he had these thoughts, Melody shouted a warning: "Another heartbeat! Coming fast!" In the next instant, Sub was torn in two and Bara was decapitated. Genthru yelped in shock before his heart was ripped out.

Razor mounted a Ken defense, aura protecting his body from complete destruction. He blocked an attack from the assailant but was thrown backwards. He focused his aura in his hands and launched a series of powerful emission attacks, which were dodged by his opponent. Then Kurapika saw a brief flash of a blond hair, vicious eyes, and some sort of Nen ability hovering behind the attacker, and then the assailant and Razor clashed again. The two became a blur of kicks and punches, accompanied with the light show of aura attacks. It was over in a flash; Razor's head hit the pavement and the enemy turned to Kurapika.

Pitou-2 smirked at the astonished Nen user trying to heal the child. He licked his lips, which had been splattered with delicious red human blood. His body was encased in Aura, Terpischora hovering above him.

Kurapika was frozen. He had no way of fighting while healing the child, who would most likely die without- oh. A quick glance showed that the child, a girl, had been fully healed. He made his decision rapidly. Fight, and try and draw the ant away from the girl.

The chain on his index finger activated, surrounded by a harsh blue light. It shot towards the ant, who dodged it easily, amused. The chain reversed direction midair to follow Pitou-2. The ant dodged again, frowning as the chain again switched its direction to follow him. Pitou-2, curious about the enemy's Nen ability, decided to try catching it.

As soon as he touched it, it stabbed into his arm and began pushing its way through his flesh. He screamed and instinctively tore off his own arm. The chain ripped the arm to shreds and continued following the ant.

With offense his only option, Pitou-2 launched himself at Kurapika. Kurapika, ready for this, attacked with his pinky finger chain. The ant dodged this one as well and seemed to vanish.

Kurapika was hit with a rain of blows, seemingly from thin air. His chain arm was ripped from his body and blood spurted from his mouth. His speed and his aura defenses were both completely useless against this opponent. Kurapika fell to the ground, thinking of his failure at everything that had mattered to him in life. He had failed to avenge his family and to collect their stolen eyes. He had failed to protect the world against the ants. And he had failed as a friend; how long had it been since he had even spoken to those who considered him friends? He thought of Gon and Killua and Leorio, and waited to die.

Pitou-2 prepared to crush his head, then decided against it. This was a new kind of human, one that had given him a lasting injury. And he so, so wanted to pay him back in kind. Torture him. The thought made the ant smile a twisted, psychotic smirk. He deactivated Terpischora and picked up Kurapika. As an afterthought, he killed the child. A snack for the long way home.

Kurapika woke in a cell. It was dim, with no windows, but was clean enough and not made of stone like in the movies. It was made of concrete. He was chained to the wall with chains that, through some odd ability, sealed his Nen. His mind was groggy and barely able to process the simple facts of what had happened to him. Where was he?

"Oh, you're awake." The voice was rueful and amused. A voice that was familiar. A voice from his nightmares. Kurapika, instantly awake, turned towards the source of the voice. He saw a fellow prisoner, a black-haired man chained to the wall and covered in injuries.

"Chrollo Lucifer."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Stalemate **

"Damn!" Kurapika yelled. He tried to summon his chains but they did not come. He wanted to attack the man in front of him. He wanted to make him pay. He wanted to be able to fight. He did not want to be tied up and helpless with his mortal enemy smirking at him. Almost as bad as the Nen-sealing was the way that the chain drained his strength. Whoever had made these chains had made them to last against powerful people.

But now he was awake. Chrollo was chained, just as he was, and injured, just as he was. It took him a minute or so to let himself come to the conclusion that they were in the same situation… somehow. Not, of course, that it made him any happier to be with this man. This monstrous man.

"Did the mean bugs get you too?" Chrollo asked lightly, mockingly, like one speaking to a small child. Kurapika glared.

"Obviously. What kind of a stupid question is that? Did you hit your head?" It did make him feel much better to be insulting Chrollo. It took his mind off of things like his impending and probably horrible death.

"How?" Chrollo was still smiling.

Kurapika laughed harshly. "The same way they got you, I suppose"

It was Chrollo's turn to laugh. "You're messed up more than me, though."

"Your head's messed up." Chrollo burst into even louder laughter.

"Yeah, I suppose you could say that! Damn if this isn't a funny situation though. My would-be killer and I, together in a cell, about to be eaten by mutated insects. Tell me that's not funny."

"I fail to see how you consider this situation funny. The only thing that amuses me here is that you were captured first and will likely go bad before me. Meaning that they will eat you before me. I just hope I can watch."

"And if they do that, you won't get your revenge, will you?" asked Chrollo. He rolled his shoulders and stretched his arms. "These chains make me sore. Well," he said suddenly, thinking of the situation in a new light, "you're getting a taste of your own medicine, aren't you. How does it feel being trapped by Nen chains and unable to do anything but wait to die?"

"Shut up."

The King stood in a plain concrete room gazing out the window. Outside was a jungle, thick with vines and green with vegetation of all kinds. Ferns dripped water. A thin mist crawled through the underbrush. Monkeys screeched in the trees. Birds called to one another, Danger, Danger. Inside, Pitou-3 knelt.

"Your Majesty, I have two humans chained down below. They both appear to be quite powerful and might be of suitable quality for your food." The King turned to look at him.

"If you think that they're good, then I'll take them. Who brought them in?" The jungle smelled rich and fresh. The King realized that, for the first time ever, he consciously _liked_ a place.

"That would be Pitou-2, Your Majesty."

"So that's why he's been moping. I bet he wanted to eat them himself. Well, give some meat from one to him, why don't you, and eat the rest of that one yourself. I'll take the other one." Pitou-3 smiled.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, but I couldn't dream of taking even a part of your food supply."

"You will, because I say so," the King declared.

"Which one would you like, Your Majesty?"

"The one that Pitou-2 caught." Just to spite him, of course. The King turned back to the window, twitching his tail in dismissal. Pitou-3 would have made a good companion had he been slightly less formal, the King mused. While loyalty was to be valued, Pitou-3 seemed to have developed a loyalty stronger even then Pouf's had been, though a great deal less delusional. It was a pity that he always interacted with the King in such a stiff and formal way, not even trying to show any of his own personality at all. Still, he was assertive enough to offer his opinion when he thought that the King had gone astray. The King valued those occasions. His time with Komugi had led him to realize how much he could grow by being challenged. Within limits, of course. And Pitou-2 pushed those limits.

Pitou-3 was much unlike his brother, who seemed to have developed a ferocity even greater than the original Pitou's. That boded ill, one way or another, the King thought. He would probably have to get rid of that one, but only after the war was won.

His Nen-enhanced soldiers should have been having little difficulty subduing the humans, but that had not been the case. With weapons now tailor-made to kill even Nen-users and a growing corps of human Nen-users who were equal and superior to his rank and file troops, the King's army's progress was slowing. After sweeping through several countries virtually unopposed, they were now advancing less than a mile each day, with some lines actually having been forced into retreat. His Royal Guards and stronger soldiers were an invaluable resource, but even they were being challenged.

Yupi had been killed by a team of two Nen-users, a short black-haired sadist and one of the prisoners below. Pitou-3 had captured that one but in the process let the other one escape. Yupi's death meant that the King's offensive tactics must be even more limited.

It was time to play another game with Komugi. He had still not defeated her, and honestly doubted that he ever would. But the process of trying, he had realized, meant much more to him than the actual victory would.

Gon could feel Illumi's eyes trained on his back, on the spot beneath which his heart lay. He knew that Illumi was itching to reach into his chest cavity and pull it out. If Gon let his guard down at all, he would die.

The stress was beginning to get to him. He would only spend another day at the Zaoldyck house. Whenever Illumi's threatening aura washed over him, he repeated it over and over again in his head. By some mutual, non-verbal consensus, he and Killua had decided to leave. Because their rooms were almost certainly bugged, as were the grounds, they could not actually speak their plans out loud. A pen and a notepad solved the problem, and the notes were written in a code they had developed to talk about Biscuit behind her back.

That evening Gon packed a suitcase and met Killua at the back door. Gotoh had planned a distraction in the form of a large swarm of horseflies, released into Milluki's room. As they walked out of the house, from inside came a shriek of pure terror and pain. They saw, through the thick, dark-leaved trees a fat boy running out the front door, followed by the entire family shouting either encouragement or taunts, waving his arms wildly around trying in vain to stop the swarm of bloodthirsty flies following them.

The sun was setting when they reached the Testing Gate. Killua looked at Gon and smiled. "A whole new adventure, right?" He opened the sixth gate. Gon followed, opening the seventh.

"Here we come!" Gon shouted. The two of them walked, long shadows trailing behind, down the side of an extinct volcano, finally setting out on their journey once again.

Inside, Illumi and Kikyou screamed in harmony at discovering that Killua and Gon were missing. Silva banged his head against the wall, and Zeno smiled and mouthed "Good Luck" out the window.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Encounters**

"Have you found Leorio yet?" asked Gon impatiently, leaning over Killua's shoulder to stare at the computer screen. Killua sighed.

"No. He hasn't answered his cell phone, and his home code isn't responding. I keep getting the message that his phone service has been canceled. Besides, I don't know where he was before the ants came."

Gon's eyes grew. "Do you think he was killed by them? He might have been in West Goruto or the Rokuro Republic. Especially if he heard that we were in East Goruto."

Killua turned and soothingly rubbed Gon's arm. "If he joined any effort against the ants, we probably wouldn't be able to find him, even if he was alive. We got the same result for Kurapika, remember? But when we hunted down Bashio, he told us that Kurapika joined the army, and that last he heard he was alive and just didn't leave any way to contact him."

Gon pondered this, then nodded slowly. "If anything," Killua continued, "they would probably think that we were dead. We were right in the middle of it all, after all." He stood, logging out of the computer. The two boys left the internet café, right into the path of a small group. A tall blond man with slicked back hair and no eyebrows gave a start. The woman next to him, pinkish hair tied back in what vaguely resembled a bush mounted on the back of her head, raised an eyebrow. A greasy-haired samurai with a hook nose grimaced and reached for his sword. The giant man with scars littering his face put an oversized hand on the samurai's shoulder.

"Cool it, Nobunaga." The samurai turned to him, one eye larger than the other, snarling, and pulled his arm free.

"Get off, Franklin. They're with the chain dude. He's killed three of us already. Don't you want to get back at him?" Franklin groaned.

"And going at it in the middle of a crowded street with two kids who are probably every bit as strong as us while Chrollo has been kidnapped by flesh-eating monsters who are on the verge of world domination is going to be worth it? It's pointless."

"Enough already," the woman said coldly. "We have to get back to Shalnark as soon as we can. Would you rather get us all in a fight to satisfy your infantile obsession or have Chrollo back?"

"For God's sake, listed to Machi," muttered the blond man. "If _I_ can control myself, what does that say about you?"

Gon gritted his teeth and trembled. Killua's stomach dueled a sudden bout of vertigo. Gon no doubt wanted to take them down, but there were four of them, and Killua would not be able to fend them all off. Gon had not revealed much of his physical state to Killua, but Killua could tell, just from being near him, how weak he really was.

Killua put a hand on Gon's shoulder and led him away. He knew the Phantom Troupe were watching and waiting for any weakness. But no one attacked, and once around the corner from the thieves, Killua finally relaxed and let the bloodlust seep out of his aura. "Wasn't sure that would work," he muttered to himself. "Guess they really are in a hurry."

"We need to find Kurapika," declared Gon. "Those guys are vulnerable, now that their leader's gone, aren't they?"

"Maybe," said Killua, "but that shouldn't really be our priority right now. We need to find some way to get you back to normal."

The sky was deep blue as the two boys left the town.

The King inspected Kurapika. Yes, he decided, this human would make a perfectly good meal. It had been so long since a truly _interesting_ choice had presented itself. And he could eat him fresh, now that Pouf was gone and he could leave Komugi on her own. No longer would he have to carefully orchestrate his meals around the human sensibilities of his Queen. Her Nen awakening left her all the more sensitive to anything in her immediate vicinity, and while it gave her little but superhuman ability in Gungi, her perception of things outside of the game had increased rather remarkably.

"What makes you think you have the right to eat me?" asked Kurapika.

The King groaned. The boy had shown promise, not begging but seemingly accepting of his fate, even if he did seem a little distracted. But this tired old line? How often had he heard this? "What gives you the right to eat cows, boy?" he sighed.

"I'm vegetarian," Kurapika retorted. The King winced. All right. This would make any kind of moral argument rather useless. He decided not to waste his brain cells any further and simply dig in.

His fingers had brushed Kurapika's throat, intending to rip open his jugular, when something became wrong. He stopped the swift, cruel motion short and tried to figure out just what it was that had gone wrong. Something was there that had not been. No, that was not it.

Something was missing.

Komugi.

Komugi had settled down for her nap. It had been yet another interesting day with His Majesty. She smiled and hugged her pillow at the thought of him. Him, and how he acted. The small noises that he made, maybe unconsciously, when he tried to figure a way out of a position she put him in. The way he always tested her, but not in an unpleasant way, but in a way that she was more than comfortable with. She could feel herself growing, and it was all thanks to him.

The door opened. She lifted her head, recognizing the distinctive footsteps of Pitou-3. "What is it?" she asked, confused. His heartbeat was loud, violent. He walked to her bedside.

"You bitch," he snarled. He reached out a hand and broke her neck.

The King stared, motionless, at his Queen, lying limply on the bed.

His mind was blank. Nothing entered or left. There was nothing left to think. What could he possibly think anymore. Was she dead? Yes, he knew somehow. He could check, maybe. But what would it matter. He knew, and he did not want to. Oh, he did not. That was why there was nothing to think. There was nothing that he wanted to think anymore. Only feel. Yes, feel, something dark growing inside, something he had never truly felt. Rage. But he did not reflect on it. How unlike His Majesty. For the first time in his life he ceased to analyze and to take his time, confident in his own superiority and that nothing really mattered enough to take a pure interest in it. For the first time, he acted, and only that.

Pitou-3 opened his arms. "Your Majesty! I'm back, and you're free! Finally free!" His face contorted then. His eyes became wide, tearing up and pleading. "No, Your Majesty! Get him out of me!" He tore at his head, clawing his face to shreds, ripping out an eyes. "Get out of me! No! No!"

But by that time the King had already torn him to pieces.

Even as the body fell, something crawled out from it. The bloody, small form of someone who the King had though dead. The small Pouf, with tears running down his face, exclaimed, "Your Majesty! I've freed you. You're finally free!"

The King crushed him without hearing anything he said.

The King moved to Komugi's side. He cradled her in his arms, smelling her one last time. Then he turned his face upwards. He did not know why. Perhaps some primal human emotion in him, to look upwards to a Heaven, to a Power that he did not believe in but that primitive man knew loomed overhead, dictating Fate. He carried that bloodline, and it overwhelmed his Ant nature, now spent from bloodshed. It was that human side that screamed up at the heavens.

Pitou-2 heard the noise. He knew his King was distressed, not really knowing or caring why. After all, why care about the King when he could eat this human in front of him. He turned back to Chrollo, only to discover that Chrollo was gone. He cocked his head to one side and muttered a bemused, "Eh?" Then his head was no longer on his body.

Chrollo smirked. He loved surprise attacks. Even the mighty could be killed easily, provided that you were skilled enough to pull it off.

Chrollo walked over to Pitou-2's still-living head and picked it up. "That was one hell of a chance, you know?" he said conversationally to it. "I didn't think that you'd put me in Nen-sealing chains. I knew I'd be taken to your leader for him to eat, based on what we've seen. You never eat the Nen-users right away, and since you're pretty high up in the ranking, he's the only one you could be saving us for. And then," he continued, dropping the head with a grand motion and a quick flick of the wrist (it was always so important to keep things dramatic and interesting), "I could steal your biotechnology, the stuff that you use to make your new Ant soldiers. That stuff that nobody could reverse engineer from the corpses we humans captured." He left the cell block humming a cheerful tune. All that was left now was to avoid the King, and he could sell whatever he found for a small fortune.  
Indeed, things were looking up.

Phinks choked. "What? You mean Chrollo got himself caught on purpose? And the reason we didn't know about this is that your phone line got interrupted right before Feitan told you that crucial part. And, to make matters worse, what interrupted him was a call offering to sell you magical girl figurines?"

Shalnark, an average-looking brown-haired teenager grinned sheepishly. Feitan, a short man with shoulder-length black hair put a thumbtack in Shalnark's arm. The other Troupe members watched and laughed.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Human**

**Final Chapter Here :)**

"You let _what_ happen to Kurapika?" Gon yelled. The Private cowered. Gon contemplated giving in to his terribly fierce desire to hit the man yet again. Killua put a hand on his shoulder.

"You say he was taken alive?" Killua probed. The man nodded, tears once again forming in the corners of his eyes. Killua turned to Gon. "He was probably taken for food, if what we've heard about the Ants is remotely true. There is a chance that he would still be alive." Gon thought about this for a moment.

"You won't let me go, will you?" Killua sighed.

"Of course not, you dummy. But I know you'll just try to go no matter what, so I'll let you come along. If you promise…" Gon groaned. Killua thumped him on the head. "Yeah, you're just going in and getting out. You're not fighting anyone. You know that, right?"

Gon nodded. "I couldn't fight Zushi the way I am now. But how do you think you'll get anywhere near the King?" Killua smiled.

"I have my ways."

Death.

That was all Kurapika could feel the instant the King entered the same room as him. Kurapika knew in that instant that he was going to die. Aura, black and menacing curled around the King. Kurapika lost control of his sphincter. He collapsed to his knees and waited for the final blow.

In the hall outside, Chrollo frantically used Zetsu, and hid himself in a closet. A man with a knife. Hiding in the trash. A twisted, deformed beast searching the city for prey. All situations when he knew he could die at any moment. And yet, even with no rational fear of his own death (after all, he got up each morning determined not to see the evening), somehow the King's aura woke something deep inside of him.

Outside the palace, a Nen door opened. Killua and Gon dashed behind a bush, both in Zetsu mode. Knov quickly closed his door. Even with his fractured mind, Knov could appreciate just how right this one thing had gone. Abandon a palace, a hideout, leave it with no visible traps. Just the one, in case he ever needed to come back. He chuckled to himself, then took a deep gulp of liquor. And hoped that, at the end of the day, Gon and Killua's bodies would not be on his conscience.

Chrollo left the closet. Ah well, no point hiding. He might as well just make a go at it. He wondered, abstractly, if he would be buried. No, probably eaten, but he wondered what it would be like, all alone in a casket. Not that any of his friends had ever, to his knowledge, been buried. Too much of a waste that would be.

The King screamed suddenly. His rage exploded. He lept towards Kurapika, intending to kill him. Then Komugi's face appeared instead of Kurapika's and he stopped. Humans. He looked at his hands, saw the missing finger. Missing? Why missing? He was the pinnacle of creation, the most powerful being on the planet? Why would he feel this way?

He saw the blood on his hands. It was completely different, but suddenly it became the blood on Komugi's body. He yelled, and bit into his hands. Anything to make them go away. The blood… Was it hers? Did he do it? No, but one like him did… And in that moment, he no longer wanted to be himself. He began to tear at his body with his bleeding fingers, wanting to tear out his own heart. He collapsed like this, writhing in a pool of his own blood, his consciousness erased.

Kurapika made a run for it.

Killua entered the palace, Gon right behind him. There were no Ant soldiers around, or so it appeared. Just the King's ominous aura. Which, Killua hoped, would not find them. Killua looked back at Gon questioningly. Gon shrugged.

Killua rounded a corner and nearly decapitated Kurapika. They both leaped backwards, blood from a small cut on Kurapika's neck dripping from Killua's sharpened fingernails. Kurapika summoned the chains on his arm, then stopped, recognizing his friend.

Killua jerked his head to the side, and the three of them retreated to an alcove. "What's happened?" Killua whispered.

"Get out of here. Now!" Kurapika yelled. Killua started.

"What?"

Gon poked Killua in the shoulder. "Hey, we should be going, right?"

Killua nodded.

The three of them ran through the jungle, somehow connected. Destiny, friendship, whatever it was, they felt at peace. Despite a possible army of inhuman fiends or the entire Phantom Troupe, both of which could very well be lurking.

They left the jungle to find the King waiting, holding a corpse. He looked at them with numb eyes.

"What should I do with her?"

_A Year Later_

Killua let the door slam behind him and plopped a bag of groceries down onto the kitchen counter. "I'm back." Gon called out a muffled greeting from the basement. Practicing with his knives, no doubt. Killua took a chocolate bar out from the bag and opened the wrapper, sticking the warm chocolatey goodness into his mouth.

Gon emerged, sweating. "Did you get everything?" Killua nodded. "So we're ready then?" Killua smirked.

"Unless you want to get even paler than you already are." Gon punched him in the arm. The pair unloaded the groceries into the refrigerator. The phone rang. Gon picked it up.

"Hi, Kurpaika. Oh? Good." He hung up the phone. "He says he's ready." Killua sighed and put his shoes back on. Gon strapped on a suit of armor before putting on a shirt and long pants over it. He looked ridiculously muscular, thought Killua. And taller than before.

The two of them left the house and walked down the street. It was morning, and the air smelled wet and fresh. The last bit of fog was burning away from the river, glowing softly. At the riverbank, they met the King. He nodded to them by way of greeting.

Ironic, Killua mused, as he always did when he saw the King. That, despite killing hundreds and leading to the deaths of millions, one human death could change him so much. Perhaps it was some sort of insanity. Or maybe that one moment awakened what was human inside of him. That pain and rage, once he realized that no amount of killing could make it stop, was directed at the Ant within him and exterminated it completely. He was human now, in a way. Still massively strong (though of course drained of a good portion of his power when he submitted himself to the Hunter Association).

Kurapika came along at a run, panting. "Am I late?"

"Nah," replied Killua. After all, they had time. Only a few hundred criminals to hunt down by sunset. And whatever else they could find to seek out along the way.

The hunt was about to begin.

In a large trash heap improperly known as a city, a group of humans lived in a palace. After selling the remainder of the living supplies they had pilfered from various areas to hopeless refugees, the Spiders could retire in comfort. As if. Now, they just had a nice place for all the new stuff they would steal.

And of course, lots of resources with which to welcome the hunters who would come after them.

And Leorio was meanwhile attempting to find the man who had swiped his booze. A man, who, incidentally carried a Double-Star Hunter Certificate. With the name Ging Freecs on it.

**Hunter x Hunter belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi. Please support the official release, no matter how annoying the Hiatus Man is. And thanks for reading. **


End file.
